Joshua Rager joined the Department of Music faculty in the summer 2015 as an assistant professor. On November 12, he's making his departmental concert debut at the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall. We caught up with him to chat about his current research and performance interests, and what he's enjoying most so far about working at Concordia.
What are you working on right now?
I'm currently composing new music for both my trio and a chamber jazz ensemble.
What has your attention? What are new trends and/or new directions in your area of research or creation?
I'm interested in exploring the potential for blending digital sound design and electronic effects with traditional acoustic instrumentation. Jazz today remains a performance based art form and has grown to assimilate most musical traditions from around the world. Still front and centre is the art of improvisation and jazz musicians today are blurring the lines between what is composed and what is improvised, what is borrowed and what is forged new. I hope to combine the element of digital technology to my work in the spirit of the music's ability to reflect popular cultural trends.
What communities do you feel most connected to or engaged by?
The jazz community has largely moved into institutions and on line forums. This connectedness has provided musicians the unprecedented opportunity to be part of possibly the most stimulating creative community in the history of the music. On a local level I am part of a community that represents common cultural trends and practices of the city of Montreal. This is also deeply stimulating because it is within the local community that we often have our deepest most meaningful creative relationships.
What are you most enjoying about working at Concordia?
Concordia represents an entirely unique learning environment among university jazz programs in Quebec. The interdisciplinary program really reflects the future of jazz education and I'm very excited to join the faculty in 2015.
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